The European Sociological Association will hold its next conference from 25 to 28 August 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic. The general theme of the 12th conference of ESA is Differences, Inequalities and the Sociological Imagination. With these keywords one may associate the questions of how do the arts play in the acceleration of global processes of social and cultural change, and how sociology of the arts does confront this challenge. Art’s position within society and politics has always been complex and ambi­valent. Artists may raise a critical voice or offer ideological legitimation for a dominant, hegemonic image of society. The attitude of the arts towards contemporary major issues – such as the increase in social inequalities engendered by economic crisis, the ensuing threats to democracy and justice, the forms of domination and the multiple expressions of difference and integration today – has never lost its relevance. Therefore, we would like to invite papers on this theme and to create special sessions with the expectation that they may include a broad nexus of sub-issues around the relation and commitment of arts in society as well as the ways for sociological imagination to renew the theoretical and empirical exploration of the intricate interweaving of social, economic and political dynamics contained in these processes of change.

The ESA-conference has always been open to other themes that are not related to the main theme. This openness to all areas of the sociology of the arts is highly valued since the Research Network aims to bring together researchers and supporting interchange and mutual learning. For this reason, we invite experienced and young scholars from various disciplines sensitive to social inquiries into the arts to also submit papers with a different thematic focus:

01RN02 - Developments in particular domains in arts, including architecture, urban planning, applied arts, arts within the domain of popular culture (e.g. film, television, and popular music) as well as traditional 'high' arts (e.g. music, visual arts, literature, theatre, etc.).

02RN02 - The process of production, distribution, promotion and commercialisation of works of art, including artistic practices, the impact of technology, new means of production, forms of collaboration, the formation of art theory, the development of arts markets, the process of valuation, etc.

03RN02 - The process of presentation and mediation of arts, including art criticism and publicity in all domains of the arts, museums, theatres, concerts, audience studies, attitudes towards the audience, educational programs, etc.

05RN02 - Arts organisations (not only museums and theatres, but also festivals and artists’ unions) – investigation of historical development, power relations, effects, managerial processes, program selection, processes within the organisations such as gate-keeping, leadership, etc.

06RN02 - Arts policy (especially the sociological aspects thereof), including legal issues, public and private funding, public discourse and debates (e.g. classification of art, arts and religious symbols, arts and sexuality, arts and racism), censorship, analysis of the impact of arts, sustainability, lobbying associations, cultural ministries or other government bodies.

07RN02 - Social and cognitive effects of the arts, including arts and identity formation, arts and bodies, aesthetic experience, arts and ethics, coding and decoding, gender related practices, ethnographic aspects, art for social transformation, arts in communities, and arts as a part of urban culture.

08RN02 - Arts from a macro-sociological perspective, including (de-) institutionalisation, economisation, globalisation vs. localism, digitalisation, mediamorphosis, arts and social cohesion, arts and ethics, arts and hegemony and arts and power.

09RN02 - Theoretical development in arts sociology, such as the production of culture approach, (post-) structuralism, field theory, system theory, praxeology as well as methodological issues.

10RN02 – Arts and everyday life, including relations between art worlds and day-to-day worlds, the experiential and the sensory, embodied and mediated elements of practice and places, the social and cultural significance of the senses, the aesthetics of everyday life, and sociological or interdisciplinary approaches to the everyday and to daily and organisational life.

11RN02 – Sociology of the Arts (open): papers that do not fit into one of the suggested sessions above should be submitted to this open session.

Papers and sessions will be rearranged when necessary after submission of abstracts and evaluation.

Notes for authors

Authors are invited to submit their abstract either to the general session or any specific session. Please submit only to one session. After abstract evaluation, coordinators will have the chance to transfer papers between sessions where applicable.

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. Each paper session will have the duration of 1.5 hours. Normally sessions will include 4 papers.

Abstracts must be submitted online to the submission platform, see below. Abstracts sent by email cannot be accepted. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected for presentation by the Research Network; the letter of notification will be sent by the conference software system in early April 2015.

If you have further questions on the conference, please visit the conference website. For further information on the Research Network, please visit www.europeansociology.org.

RN2 PhD-Student Research Award

ESA Research Network 02 Sociology of the Arts

Call for Papers

The 2015 PhD-Student Research Award in Sociology of the arts

Deadlines: 1st February 2015 for the abstract by online submission platform, and 15th May 2015 for the full paper version by email to the Board of the RN Sociology of the Arts.

The Research Network 02 Sociology of the Arts that is an integrated part of the European Sociological Association (ESA) announces its bi-annual PhD-Student Research Award to recognize outstanding unpublished papers by PhD-students. The winner of the 2015 award will receive a 500 € prize.

Papers should be original; they should not have been published elsewhere

Papers must be authored and submitted by PhD-students only. All authors must currently be PhD-students and by the submission deadline have not yet finished their PhD-studies

Members of the board of RN Sociology of the Arts as well as persons who received in the past the PhD-Student Research Award of the RN Sociology of the Arts are ineligible

All entrants must:

Provide a (posted or PDF) letter on organizational letterhead from one faculty member certifying that the applicant is currently student at the PhD-programme of the university and that she / he wrote the paper.

Submit a paper written in English, double-spaced, having 6.000-8.000 words (including all footnotes and references). Papers above this word-limit may not be eligible for the Award and may be returned to authors unreviewed.

Submit two different PDFs electronically. The first PDF should include on the first page the author's name, full mailing and email addresses, phone number(s) and title of the paper. The research text should start on the second page beginning with the title and an abstract around 250 words followed by the research text. From the second page the author’s name should be excluded and any indication in the text that could reveal the author’s identity should be avoided. The second PDF should be absolutely identical with the first PDF excluding the first page.

Entries (accompanied by faculty letters) must be emailed to daneugen.ratiu(at)gmail(dot)com by 15th May 2015. The winning paper will be announced by 1st July 2015.

Evaluation

Papers will be reviewed anonymously by the Board members of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts on the basis of the second (anonymous) PDF. The evaluation will be carried by the following criteria:

The degree to which the paper addresses issues that are significant to the sociology of the arts;

The extent to which the paper shows consideration of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature;

The extent to which the paper makes a conceptual or empirical contribution.

In the absence of papers deemed deserving of the award, the award may be withheld.

Presentation, announcement and publication

The winner must be present the paper at a section during the conference and must attend the Business Meeting of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts at the 12th Conference of the European Sociological Association will take place in Prague on 25-28 August 2015.

The title of awarded paper and a very short description (70-100 words) will be published on the website of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts. (*)

A comprehensive abstract (300-500 words) will be posted to the members of the Research Network.

(*) Please note: The publication of the short description on the RN-website does not constitute publication; the awarded authors are encouraged to submit papers for journal publication. In case of such a publication we would be happy to announce publication details, when they become available.

8th midterm Conference of the Research Network Sociology of the Arts

Art and its contexts: cross-disciplinary dialogue

Cluj-Napoca, 4-6 September 2014

Call for Papers

Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Dan Eugen Rațiu

Venue: “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract submission: November 15, 2013 – February 15, 2014

The ESA Research Network Sociology of the Arts hereby announces its 8th midterm conference which will take place from 4 to 6 September 2014 at “Babes-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

The Research Network aims to provide the sociological context for understanding the multifaceted and interwoven social aspects which characterize the art worlds. The focus of this conference will be on sociological approaches to art and their tense but promising relations with other approaches by cultural studies, art history, philosophy and aesthetics. Therefore, researchers from all social sciences disciplines, philosophy and humanities, as well as PhD students and artists who are interested in inter- and trans-disciplinary dialogue are welcome to participate in this conference. We would like to create special sessions and invite papers on this theme with the expectation that they may include a broad nexus of sub-issues around alternative approaches to art and its contexts, the social and the aesthetic, willing to cross the divide between sociology and aesthetics.

The ESA RN Sociology of the Arts conference has always been open to other themes that are not related to the main theme. This openness is highly valued since the Research Network aims to bring together researchers and supporting interchange and mutual learning. For this reason, the program will be thematically broad and open for presentations to all core areas of arts sociology. Presentations can be related to following areas:

1. Developments in particular domains in arts, including architecture, urban planning, applied arts, arts within the domain of popular culture (e.g. film, television, and popular music) as well as traditional 'high' arts (e.g. music, visual arts, literature, theatre, etc.).2. The process of production, distribution, promotion and commercialization of works of art, inclu-ding artistic practices, the impact of technology, new means of production, forms of collaboration, the formation of art theory, the development of arts markets, the process of valuation, etc.3. The process of presentation and mediation of arts, including art criticism and publicity in all domains of the arts, museums, theatres, concerts, audience studies, attitudes towards the audience, educational programs, etc.4. Professional development, including amateurs and semi-amateurs, vocational education, art schools, professional differentiation, artistic income, artistic reputation, the relations to arts management, etc.5. Arts organisations and arts management – investigation of historical development, power relations, effects, program selection, processes within the organisations such as gate-keeping, leadership, etc.6. Arts policy (especially the sociological aspects thereof), including legal issues, public and private funding, public discourse and debates (e.g. classification of art, arts and religious symbols, arts and sexuality, arts and racism), censorship, analysis of the impact of arts, sustainability, lobbying associations, cultural ministries or other government bodies.7. Social and cognitive effects of the arts, including arts and identity formation, arts and bodies, aesthetic experience, arts and ethics, coding and decoding, gender related practices, ethnographic aspects, art for social transformation, arts in communities, and arts as a part of urban culture.8. Arts from a macro-sociological perspective, including (de-)institutionalisation, economisation, globalisation vs. localism, digitalisation, mediamorphosis, arts and social cohesion, arts and ethics, arts and hegemony, and arts and power.9. Theoretical development in arts sociology, such as the production of culture approach, (post-) structuralism, field theory, system theory, praxeology as well as methodological issues.10. Any other particular topics of the sociology of arts.

The conference will feature keynote lectures, parallel sessions with contributed papers (each paper session will have the duration of 90 minutes, including normally 4 papers), distributed papers, and round-tables or workshops (minimum 45 to 90 minutes) with particular research topics or approaches proposed by submitting authors. The language of the conference is English.

The invited key speakers are: Pierre-Michel Menger, sociologist, director of study at EHESS Paris and Professor at Collège de France (to be confirmed), and Noël Carroll, philosopher, Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York (to be confirmed).

Notes for authors• The abstracts of approximately 300-400 words must be written in English. Please submit your abstract and full contact details as an electronic file (word.doc) no later than February 15, 2014. The information requested during abstract submission include: 1) the name(s) of the author(s), the institutional affiliation (both university and department), mailing address and email(s); 2) title of proposed presentation or round-table/workshop; 3) area of presentation; 4) up to 3-5 keywords. Each author cannot submit more than two abstracts (as first author).• Send the abstract by email to the Conference Secretariat (
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
) with Cc to Dan Eugen Ratiu (
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)

Calendar:• The deadline for abstract submission is February 15, 2014.• The acceptance of abstracts will be notified by March 31, 2014.• Registration opening: April 1, 2014.• Registration deadline for presenting authors: May 31, 2014.• Further information and guidelines will be on the Conference website: http://hiphi.ubbcluj.ro/ESA-Arts-2014

Please note that there will be a conference fee (to cover all catering services, etc.), with discounts for all students and PhD graduates, free-lance artists and ESA-members. The proofs of status or affiliation should be presented during the Registration process. Active participants will have the option to register their co-authors (max. 2 persons) for the low fee (€100).

Reduced fees:• €100 for all students and PhD graduated in 2013 still not employed• €100 for all free-lance artists• €150 for all participants who are members of the European Sociological Association (ESA)• €150 for all participants from countries with a low gross national income (categories B and C in http://www.isa-sociology.org/table_c.htm)Full fees:• €200 for all other participants (non-ESA members, from countries category A in http://www.isa-sociology.org/table_c.htm)

A registration form will be available on the conference website. Non-active participants (audience) could also register on-site with the same fees.

The city of Cluj-Napoca is situated in the province of Transylvania, north-western part of Romania, and its International Airport (http://airportcluj.ro/) offers direct flights to several European cities or can be reached by connecting flights mainly from Bucharest, Munich and Vienna. More information on the city can be found here.

Below you can still read the expired Call for Papers for the ESA Conference which took place in Torino/Italy in August 2013.

European Sociological Association 11th Conference

TORINO, 28-31 August 2013

Call for Papers

Instructions

Authors are invited to submit their abstract either to the general session (open) or any specific session. Please submit each abstract only to one session. After abstract evaluation, coordinators will have the chance to transfer papers between sessions where applicable.

Abstracts should not exceed 1750 characters (including spaces, approximately 250 words). Each paper session will have the duration of 1.5 hours. Normally sessions will include 4 papers.

Abstracts can only be submitted online no later than 1st of February 2013 to the submission platform at: www.esa11thconference.eu. Abstracts sent by email cannot be accepted.

The information requested during abstract submission include: 1) name(s), affiliation(s) and email of all the author(s); 2) contact details of presenting author (postal address, and telephone in addition to email); 3) title of proposed presentation; 4) up to 4 keywords (optional).

Submitting authors will receive an email of acknowledgement of successful submission receipt. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected for presentation by the relevant Research Network or Research Stream; the letter of notification will be sent by the conference software system in early April 2013. Each author cannot submit more than two abstracts (as first author).

Coordinator: Tasos Zembylas <
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
>

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, Austria

The general theme of the 11th conference of ESA will be “Crisis, Critique and Change”. With these keywords one may associate the questions “What crisis?”, “Whose critique?” and “What changes?”. Art’s position within society and politics has always been complex and ambivalent. Artists may raise a critical voice or offer ideological legitimation for a dominant, hegemonic image of society. They may display a strong commitment or keep a distance from others’ fate. The attitude of the arts towards contemporary issues such as the ecological crisis, the debt crisis, violence against minorities and opponents, economic exploitation, and deprivation of people’s rights has never lost any relevance. Therefore, we would like to create special sessions and invite papers on this topic with the expectation that they may include a broad nexus of sub-issues around the relation and commitment of arts in society.

The ESA-conference has always been open to other themes that are not related to the main theme. This openness to all areas of the sociology of the arts is highly valued since the Research Network aims to bring together researchers and supporting interchange and mutual learning. For this reason, we invite experienced and young scholars from various disciplines sensitive to social inquiries into the arts to submit papers with a different thematic focus, such as:

01RN02. Developments in particular domains in arts, including architecture, urban planning, applied arts, arts within the domain of popular culture (e.g. film, television, and popular music) as well as traditional 'high' arts (e.g. music, visual arts, literature, theatre, etc.).

02RN02. The process of production, distribution, promotion and commercialisation of works of art, including artistic practices, the impact of technology, new means of production, forms of collaboration, the formation of art theory, the development of arts markets, the process of valuation, etc.

03RN02. The process of presentation and mediation of arts, including art criticism and publicity in all domains of the arts, museums, theatres, concerts, audience studies, attitudes towards the audience, educational programs, etc.

05RN02. Arts organisations (not only museums and theatres, but also festivals and artists’ unions) – investigation of historical development, power relations, effects, program selection, processes within the organisations such as gate-keeping, leadership, etc.

06RN02. Arts policy (especially the sociological aspects thereof), including legal issues, public and private funding, public discourse and debates (e.g. classification of art, arts and religious symbols, arts and sexuality, arts and racism), censorship, analysis of the impact of arts, sustainability, lobbying associations, cultural ministries or other government bodies.

07RN02. Social and cognitive effects of the arts, including arts and identity formation, arts and bodies, aesthetic experience, arts and ethics, coding and decoding, gender related practices, ethnographic aspects, art for social transformation, arts in communities, and arts as a part of urban culture.

08RN02. Arts from a macrosociological perspective, including (de)institutionalisation, economisation, globalisation vs. localism, digitalisation, mediamorphosis, arts and social cohesion, arts and ethics, arts and hegemony and arts and power.

09RN02. Theoretical development in arts sociology such as the production of culture approach, (post-) structuralism, field theory, system theory, praxeology as well as methodological issues.

10RN02. Sociology of the Arts (open)

02JS07. RN02 Joint session with RN07 Sociology of Culture

Creative Practice

(Chairs: Graciela Trajtenberg & Anna Lisa Tota)

The concept of creativity has long been neglected by sociologists. However the sociological perspective has added a very important dimension to its study: creativity is no longer conceived as a merely individual property, disposition or capacity but rather as one that is embedded in discursive, interactional, communal and institutional practices. In this session we invite papers on the social dimensions of creative practice in all artistic fields – including popular, amateur, and outsider art.